Guest Post: Janine Ashbless Interviews Milja from In Bonds of the Earth

I’m a HUGE fan of fantasy erotica author Janine Ashbless, and I’m thrilled to have her on my blog today!

Would you defy God, for love?

Ashbless’s novel In Bonds of the Earth comes out on March 1st (read my review here), and today I’m lucky enough to host her interview of protagonist Milja. Enjoy!

JA: I’m interviewing Milja Petak, heroine of In Bonds of the Earth (Book of the Watchers vol. 2). Hello Milja! You look like you’re packing for a trip—are you going somewhere nice?

MP: Ethiopia.

JA: Awesome! It’s an amazing country, really beautiful and full of surprises… And I should know; I went there researching this book [laughs].

Now, when we left you at the end of Cover Him With Darkness, you’d released the demon Azazel upon the earth and he’d sworn to free all his Fallen Angel brothers and wage war against Heaven.

MP: You make him sound like a bad guy! He’s not evil, whatever anyone says—he just…rebellious. He can’t abide being ordered around.

JA:Just rebellious?

MP: And horny. And a bit short-tempered, okay.

JA: And really hot, right?

MP: Yeah…

JA: How’s it going with finding the other Watchers?

MP: That’s why we’re off to Ethiopia. We think Penemuel, the Angel of the Written Word, is imprisoned there.

JA: Hah—I should have known that the angel of writers would be Fallen. So you and Azazel and Roshana are going to free her?

MP: You know about Roshana?

JA: Of course—I’m the author. It became increasingly obvious as I was writing Book 1 that if there was going to be a sequel, Roshana would have to show up. What do you think of her?

MP: I don’t like her. She’s super-rich and super-smug and sort of creepy. She keeps hugging me like we’re supposed to be best friends, but we’re not, and it makes my skin crawl. And she wears these really inappropriate clothes around Azazel… I don’t trust her. Is she even on our side?

JA: She is at the moment. She’s one of those people who’s your best friend forever, right until the moment they decide you’re their bitter enemy.

MP: But I’m not her enemy. I know Azazel has a right to her… it’s just…

JA: Are you jealous, by any chance?

MP: …

I suppose I am. Azazel was mine. He was my family secret for thousands of years. He was my secret. My special love. And she’s just turned up and muscled in, and now he’s listening to her. And it’s not just the two of us against the world anymore.

JA: Talking of which, do tell me about howyou’re getting on with Egan, Milja.

MP: [very uncomfortable] I don’t want to talk about him. He made me trust him and then he lied to me. He betrayed me. He was going to turn me over to the Vatican to use as a hostage against Azazel!

JA: But he didn’t, did he? He let you go in the end. You persuaded him it had to be your choice.

MP: [small smile]

JA: And there is the fact he’s wildly in love with you.

MP: …Is he?

JA: Oh yeah. Head-over-heels. You’re the love of his life. There’ll never be another woman for him after you.

MP: Oh… He’s such a strange guy…he seemed so nice and calm and together at first but when you push through that ‘nice’ there’s this wall, and there’s huge secret life hidden behind it, this special forces thing…

JA: Milja, you’ve hardly started on his secrets. There’s wall after wall as far as Egan goes. He is king of secrets.

MP: What do you mean?

JA: You’ll find out, slowly. He’s following you to Ethiopia—

MP: Oh no!

JA: —and you’re going to be soglad he’s there when it all hits the fan. If it makes you feel any better, no matter how far I make you wade through hell, I make Egan wade twice as far and twice as deep.

MP: Why do you do this to us? Why do we have to suffer?

JA: It’s okay—Trust me! I am working my butt off to get you a happy-ever-after at the end of three books, I promise!

MP: So it’s “suffer now for reasons I don’t deign to tell you, but ‘all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well’ at the end, just have faith”? You know who you sound like, Ashbless?